


From Humble Beginnings

by crappyfriend



Category: RWBY
Genre: Accidental Crimes, Gen, Misunderstandings, Organized Crime
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2020-07-10 03:24:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19899073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crappyfriend/pseuds/crappyfriend
Summary: If people were to use one word to describe Jaune Arc, it would be nice. There are many other words one would associate with him, such as clumsy or awkward. What Jaune never thought people would think when they heard his name was criminal.





	1. Chapter 1

Jaune Arc, thirteen years old and newly hired delivery boy at his uncles' butcher shop was confused.

The confusion stems from how he even got to this point.

He had a week of vacation from school and his plans were non-existent. Didn't help that the few friends he had were busy and his sisters had other things to do. There were chores, but they don't count no matter how many times mom says they do. That trick only worked the first few times.

He was sitting on the couch eating a bowl of Pumpkin Pete's special edition cereal, thinking this was going to be the most exciting thing he would be doing that day until his scroll rang.

It was a call from his dad, asking if he wanted to go to Vale. His father said something about helping an uncle, but he was too busy celebrating that he would be going to Vale to notice the rest of the conversation.

Maybe if he had listened back then, he wouldn't be here right now.

It didn't take long before Jaune was on the next train to Vale and what he thought at the time would be a grand adventure. 

He should have realized something was wrong when his uncle, who picked him up from the station, looked puzzled when he asked what adventure they were going on.

His expression turned into amusement when he explained to me what he would be doing the rest of the week.

'You're here because I asked your parents for help with my business, didn't they tell you?'

Jaune couldn't believe what he heard, but he couldn't deny that it happened. He can't believe that he traded his vacation for a job delivering food. 

When he got the address for the place, a place that turns out to be much further away then the short walk his uncle told him it would be.

A 40-minute bus ride does not count as a short walk.

And now he was at the door. Ringing the doorbell, he waits. 

When no one answers for some time, he rings again.

"My un-" Stopping himself, he changes what he was going to say. Saying uncle would sound lame if he's going to work a job like this, he wants to at least sound cool.

"My boss sent me. I am here with your order." He says instead.

He tries to at least since he doesn't even get halfway through his sentence before the door opens suddenly, making him almost jump out of surprise.

* * *

Alec Meadows was a member of a small gang that did mostly small crimes. They didn't make much but they made enough and then his boss had to be arrested. 

Now he was the leader of the gang since no one else wanted to. 

He might have been happy for the promotion if it wasn't for them being in huge debt to other gangs. Some that are much bigger and much more dangerous than them.

How did they get into debt when they supposedly made enough money without it. Turns out that their former boss had a gambling problem and to pay for it he loaned money from people he shouldn't have.

One would think that with him gone, the debt would be gone too but he loaned the money with our names. 

The amount of lien they want was more than they could ever make by doing things how they would normally do it. So Alec had to go for something that would bring in more cash.

So far there has been little success with multiple failures and the deadline was quickly approaching.

The last few days he has been sending messages to different groups if they require some extra manpower.

He was about to lose hope when no answer came and find some way to fake his death to escape. 

While he was thinking of the easiest way to fake his death, the doorbell rang.

He was hoping it might be someone that was coming with an offer for employment but looking through the peephole it turns out to just be some kid.

Not having the energy to deal with kids right now, he was just going to ignore the kid, when he heard something that made him stop.

"My boss sent me,-" was all he heard before wrestling the door open, to see what might be his salvation.

Sending a kid does seem a little strange but he won't judge how they do things. He only hopes that the pay will be good.


	2. Chapter 2

When Jaune was told of what to expect from this delivery, it certainly wasn't this.

His uncle hadn't told him much before he went out, only that the delivery was already paid for and that they might ask for something extra work after afterwards.

What that extra work could be varied, the examples he got ranged from painting a fence to cooking a meal. Why a butcher house would have that kind of service was a mystery. The service in Vale must be something special.

He was prepared to do any of those small jobs, thanks to his experience from chores back home. He wasn't prepared for the guy to open the door so fast, while he kept on rambling about how thankful he was that he arrived.

When the guy started thanking him for the third time, it was starting to get a little too much and he decided to stop him.

"There's no need to thank me, I'm only doing my job." He politely says. "We should probably get to the reason I came here."

He looked nervous when Jaune started speaking and his voice got a lot more subdued. "Sorry about that, didn't mean to go overboard. Come in and make yourself comfortable in the living room, I'll get the others." He went inside then, probably to get the other people he was speaking about.

Others? What kind of job does he even need him for when there are already other people here.

He shrugs, might as well it over with. It's not like he's in a hurry.

Stepping inside the cramped hallway, the place looks much smaller than he thought it would. He takes some time to just observe the house from where he stands, noticing how old it looks. He was pretty sure that he just saw a rat run past him.

It doesn't take long before he hears yelling coming from further down the hallway. Not really knowing where the livingroom so he chooses to go where the yelling comes from.

* * *

Alec was embarrassed.

When he saw the kid, one could say he was overjoyed since his money problems might finally be over.

But then he ends up thanking him multiple times, and now that he thinks back on it, they didn't introduce themselves to each other either.

He must have sounded like this was his first time, which it admittedly was as this would be his first meeting with another gang as the leader.

Inviting the kid in, he went to look for the others. There aren't a lot of places they could go with how much smaller the house was compared to our previous place. 

When Alec walks into the living room, he was only mildly surprised to find all of them there. All five of them laying in relaxing positions around the room.

He claps his hands. "Its time to look, decent guys. Jim take your feet off the table and prepare the map. Rosa, wake up Julia for me and make sure not to get stabbed again."

When he started giving orders, he expected at least some of them to move, but everyone remained in the same position as when he came in.

He tries to remain calm, but he can't help feeling a little angry about this. Ever since they had to sell the previous place to pay back some of the debt, they have been acting less cooperative. 

Some of his anger comes out when he speaks. "Are we doing this now? Someone has finally come to give us a job and this is not the time to act like this."

A chair was scraped along the floor, the sound lasting too long for it to be accidental. The culprit being the one that has had the most problems with him even before he became the leader.

"We are like this because this 'job' is just going to be another failure, like last time." Says Tom, the oldest and biggest of the group. The scowl on his face making the scars stand out more than usual.

"The plan wouldn't have failed if you had just listened when I told you not to cut that alarm." The one time they tried to go for a bigger score, and it was ruined, thanks to Tom.

Tom gritted his teeth at that, he didn't like people blaming him for failures, even less when it was solely his fault. This led to him start yelling.

"Maybe, if your leadership wasn't lacking, we would be living in this shitty place one is supposed to call a house."

He didn't know what it was about Tom that always managed to rile him up but their 'discussions' always ended up with one of them yelling. 

Or in this case, both.

"I didn't even want to be the lead-" He was about to continue the yelling match that would probably end with no one winning until Julia interrupted me. When did she wake up?

"Whos the kid?" She asks, reminding him about why he came here.

The kid, he really needs to ask what his name is, had walked in while he was busy. He was just standing there, probably waiting to be introduced and there's no way he wants to mess up this thing any more than he already had.

"He is the answer to our problems, I-" Once again he was interrupted, not by Tom or Julia but something much worse. 

Laughter.


	3. Chapter 3

The mood in the room had shifted so suddenly that he didn't know what to think of this group anymore. In one moment they are arguing and yelling at each other. In the next, they go almost hysterical with laughter.

Luckily or unluckily depending on how one looks at it, the laughter didn't last and the arguing started soon after.

"Has the stress of being the leader made you crazy already, I'm honestly surprised you lasted this long, considering how weak-willed you are." Said the scarred man, his height easily surpassing Jaune even while sitting.

"You were the one that didn't want to be the leader at all. It's not my fault that the responsibility of being the leader was too much for you." The guy who he met first said.

Their arguing didn't stop there as their words became more insulting and their volume kept increasing, fortunately not to the same level as before. When the tall one stood up and started walking towards the other guy threateningly, he felt like someone should step in. 

It was starting to look like he would be the only one that would even try because everyone else was just watching or ignoring them.

Jim was egging them on, giving both of them advice on where to hit the hardest.

Rosa and another guy he didn't know the name of had started to play a card game.

And Julia, his last hope, was sleeping. How does she even sleep with all the yelling going on?

It was starting to look like a fight was going to break out and he was the only one that actually wanted it to stop.

He was considering going back home at this point. What stopped him was that his first job would end with the customers fighting. The thought was what led him to step into the path of the guy. His second thought was that stepping into the man's path isn't the smartest thing.

He wouldn't hit a child, right?

Jaune only needs to remember what his dad told him to do when he was nervous. 'All you need is confidence', though he probably didn't mean it for this kind of situation.

He gets in the stance his father always get into when he speaks to people. Hoping that the way people always listen to his father when he stands like that will help here. It actually helps, letting the words come out much easier than he thought they would.

"There's no need to fight, if we calm down I'm sure we can find a peaceful solution." Was what he wanted to say but he didn't get further than 'there'. The guy had slowed down when he stepped forward, it was when he started speaking that the man had decided to go for him first instead.

That question was answered quickly, he would hit a child.

When his fist came flying towards him, he tried to put the cooler box in front of him so he could use it as a shield. His hands had barely touched it when the guy suddenly went flying into a wall and the man that was playing cards previously stood in front of him instead. He started speaking

"I am truly sorry for how Tom acted, he doesn't know how to properly treat a guest." The guy apologetically said as he put his hand forward for me to shake. Jaune shakes it more out surprise than common courtesy.

"Could we start over? My name is Victor and the others are named Alec, Julia, Rosa, Jim and Tom." Victor pointed at each one as he said their names.

"And your name is?" He asks.

Ever since Jaune came here, it had felt like he was in one of those cheap dramas on TV. The mood now was actually pleasant for once and he replied with "My name is Jaune. Thank you for stepping in, I didn't want things to get any more violent."

"I'm sure you could have easily handled it," He mysteriously said and changes the topic before Jaune could question what he meant. "But we should get to the reason you came here, right Alec?"

"Yes, if you could follow me to another room, it might be too noisy doing it in the living room." Alec said.

Finally, every moment he spends here feels like an emotional rollercoaster with how quick the mood changes. Hopefully, the problem would be an easy one.

All three of us went into a new room, the room was bare except for a few chairs and a table. What he saw on it was what finally started to answer some of his questions. On the table laid a Dungeons and Grimm playing board.

Jaune doesn't personally have much experience with the game, but one of his sisters was a fan and let him play sometimes. Saphron and her group could sit for days playing an adventure in all kinds of settings. In every new setting, they would adopt a different personally to match it, no wonder these guys act so weird.

He felt like smiling thinking back to those memories, he should call her once he gets back.

"We called you because we have gotten into debt that we can't back and the robberies we do are too small to actually pay for it." Alec explained once they sat down at the table.

His answer was almost instantaneous when they gave him the problem.

"Dust shops." Seeing the confusion on their faces he elaborated. "Dust shops are the easiest if you want money fast and easy. As long as you make sure to not harm the shop keepers and only take the dust. They are insured to cover up the losses and one can even rob them again once they have recovered." 

A setting where the players would be criminals was Saphrons favourite type of setting that she liked playing. He had fun when they invited him to the sessions, the looks they gave him when he came up with plans was strange though. He was afraid to disappoint them, so he always tried to do as much research as possible. It's sad that they only played four sessions before they switched.

"I guess we could but we usually steal from private homes, I don't think we have the experience necessary for it." Alec responded. His expression had changed from confusion into one of deep thought. "We would need to plan for that and we don't have that much time."

"You can use one of mine then, They would work for most of them, though your teamwork would have to be effective to pull it off. Do you have something to write on?" He asked and didn't need to wait for long as Victor took out a notepad for him to use. The speed he took it out was pretty fast, almost like he knew what he was going to ask for. 

Thanking him, Jaune writes down the plan. 

The plan itself was simple.

Investigate the shop and the area around it while making sure to not be too obvious about it. Make sure each member knows their role and doesn't do anything not agreed upon. Try going for a time when there are no people or as little as possible so that you don't have to use people to guard them.

The most important part was to destroy as little of the property as possible and that the workers are not harmed. The dust was the only thing worth stealing as they are easily sold on a black market. And make sure to have multiple escape routes and contingencies planned.

It's not the best plan he has made but for something as easy as a Dust shop it should be good enough.

He gives the paper to Alec, who receives it with an expression he can't quite recognize. 

"Is that all the help you needed?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, we'll call... what is your number?" Alec asks.

In response, he takes out a stock of cards his uncle gave him in case people asked for it. The card he gives Alec has the name of the shop and the number written on it.

"Is there anything else?" He receives an answer from Victor who shakes his head. "Then I'll see you later, bye."

Walking out of the room and towards the exit, he facepalms when he remembers that he hasn't given them the delivery yet.

Putting the cooler box down, he takes out a box and goes back to the living room to deliver the food. He sets the food on the table and walks out.

Soon he was on the next bus back to his uncle.

He didn't think that delivering food in Vale would be so complicated, it won't be like that every time hopefully.


	4. Chapter 4

For Jaune Arc, it was a strange and eventful day.

For Victor Kallo it would be the second time he thought he would die.

* * *

Victor Kallo has been on the wrong side of the law longer then he's been on the right side. His first job was as a courier for drugs at the age of 12. It kept him from starving and gave him a roof over his head on some days.

Later on, he would become a pickpocket and leave that life behind.

When he got older and more confident in his skills, he joined a gang that would hijack cars, remodel them and later sell them for profit. He eventually became the leader of the gang when his way of doing things started making more money.

The only difference between him and the others being his low ambitions, so he would always go for safer targets. He thought he had low ambitions at least.

Becoming the leader changed him. 

He didn't notice at the time but years later he would hear the phrase about how power can change people. When he became the leader, he started getting bolder with his operations and arrogant. 

He thought nothing could touch him, that no one could stop him from one day ruling the city and all it took was one kid to ruin everything.

As his organization grew, he would eventually have to diversify his targets. His men started to take more than just cars, they started robbing homes and stores. 

It wasn't exactly a big step up but it wasn't as complicated as stealing cars had started to get. People had started to install better security in their cars and robbing a store seemed like the better alternative. At least one could hide lien much easier than a stolen car.

Sometimes he would go with them, to make sure his skills didn't weaken.

It was on a robbery that was almost no different from any other, the only difference is what they sell. What they were robbing this time was a store selling clothes.

They were doing what they would usually do. They would steal the lien and take some of the wares to sell later on. The incident happened when one of his guys decided to intimidate the shopkeeper by ripping some of the clothes. 

Unfortunately, they were some people that didn't like that. The shopkeeper and a girl that they must have missed during our initial sweep of the store. Made her presence known by berating us for being enemies of fashion. It wasn't the first time they missed someone, though people would usually look more scared if they found them. This girl looked outright murderous when she saw us.

He didn't know someone so young could make a face like that.

He almost stepped back out of both fear and surprise when she advanced towards them. When he remembered that they outnumbered her and that she was just a little kid having a tantrum that he calmed down.

He sent two of his guys to restrain her and went back to business.

At the time he thought two guys would be overkill but later on, he would learn that he severely underestimated her.

He had barely turned around when he could hear more sounds than he would expect. Turning back to berate them for causing a ruckus, he is instead met with a scene out of a movie. 

The one where a lone martial artist goes up against a gang. The difference being that the martial artist here is a little kid and the gang currently consist of two of his men groaning on the floor. And her choice of weapon is not a sword or a staff but a handbag. 

Who uses a handbag as a weapon!?

He soon found out why it has been so effective when she has to drop it as she is attacked from an angle she couldn't defend against. Two audible sounds are heard from that; the sound of the bag hitting the floor with such weight that the floor cracks and the bat that one his men attacked with breaking.

The room goes silent at that when the girls grab the weapon and start using it with no problems whatsoever from the hit is when Victor starts to panic.

His panic leads him to an obvious observation, that he is in a situation that he is not prepared for and that there is only one obvious thing to do. 

Run as far away from here as possible.

It was already too late though, as all of his men were already out. There was nothing left to distract the girl or to be more precise the monster from going after me. No human can be that strong.

To make things even worse she had picked up her bag and must have done something to it as the bag was shifting into a new form. The new form could be a cannon or a minigun with how it was formed.

He honestly thought he was going to die, killed by a little girl over a ripped shirt. It wasn't even him that ripped it!

He never saw what it truly would be as the transformation stopped midway and gave him a chance to slip away as she was distracted by it stopping.

He doesn't know how he got away that day, he only remembers that he never stopped running after that.

He moved to Vale after that, letting someone else run his organization. The further he got away from that town the better.

It was only later that he would learn about Aura, mecha-shift weapons and Huntsmen. That knowledge only made him more afraid. If a trainee could kill him easily then he didn't want to meet an actual one.

* * *

In present-day Victor is just a regular thief in a small gang with money problems. Its a long way from what he used to be but as long as he doesn't have to fight against someone with Aura then he would be fine.

Tom and Alec were having the same old argument about leadership, one that always leads to another argument later. Very rarely does it turn into anything more than that and even rarer is an actual fight.

His card game continues with only some of his attention directed towards them, just in case they decide to include him. It's only when he hears an unfamiliar voice that he turns his full attention towards them.

The first thing he notices is that Alec has invited someone new inside and that this new person has decided to stand in front of an angry Tom. Pity is what he felt for the guy as he stood there, presumably trying to stop a fight that won't happen.

The pity turned into fear when his stance changed into a familiar stance that Victor remembers extremely well. A stance he learned after moving to Vale is a basic stance all Huntsmen trainees learn when they're young. One that means they're prepared for a fight to happen. Him going for what looks like a cooler box but its definitely a mecha-shift weapon in disguise makes the decision for him. The murderous expression the girl had and the fight flashes through his mind, reminding him what they are capable of.

It felt like teleportation with how fast he moved across the room to stop Tom from killing us all. 

Throwing Tom into a wall might have been a bit much but it was the only thing he could think of. It managed to knock him out at least so that's one problem solved.

The much bigger threat in front of him is the one he's worried about. He could only hope that taking care of Tom would be enough to calm the guy.

He calmed down when the room didn't descend into a whirlwind of violence. Finding out that he was invited surprised him and let the final bit of tension he felt loosen. 

When they introduced ourselves and the reason for Jaunes visit came to light he was sceptical. What kind of plan could he have that would free us from our debt?

His scepticism flew away as soon as what the plan would entail came to light. He felt a feeling that he hasn't felt in a long time since he moved here.

Excitement.

He barely noticed Jaune leaving after receiving the plans, already picking out which Dust shop to look at. What broke him out of his thought was Julia coming in with a package that Jaune left them. Its contents confusing them.

It was filled with steaks.

He hopes that the first day of this job isn't going to be what he should expect every time they meet.


	5. Chapter 5

Alec Meadows still couldn't believe what his eyes were telling him.

In front of him sat more lien than he has ever seen. After five days of hard work and two Dust shops robbed they now had a bit over 50 thousand lien after selling all the Dust. 

The 50 thousand lien wasn't going to belong solely to them as they still had to pay the debt. What they would have after that would be more than enough to give everyone a sizable cut, they might have enough to move out of this dump too.

He was sceptical of the plan at first, thinking that it was going to fail at certain points and they would be arrested. In the end, the operation went by flawlessly on the first store and the second was only a little problematic because of how confident they got from the first one. Jim didn't scout out the location as thoroughly as the first one, which meant that they didn't know that the shopkeeper had a personal guard.

He could still feel the bruise that the guard gave him.

Alec really wanted to stay in bed today because of his injuries, but he still had one last thing to do before he could sit down. He had to call the number Jaune gave him. 

Jaune didn't give us a timeframe for when they should call so they had decided to call him after they had enough money to pay our debts. He had both the number and a scroll ready to call him but there was one thing making him hesitate.

The number was for a food delivery service.

He even searched the name of the place on the net and it's been running for years. It's obviously a front for the organization he's from and he knows of places that run similar operations. The gangs that can afford it are people that have both the money and the influence to both run it and to take care of any that looks to close. 

Why would a gang like that help a small group like their out of a debt? Do they have further plans with them now that they had a different kind of debt to them?

These are the questions that he so desperately wants to be answered but was afraid to know what it will be.

He doesn't know how much time it has taken him since came downstairs but he eventually inputs the number on his scroll and puts it on voice only. 

"Crane's food delivery, how may I help you?" The voice he could hear through the speaker was female.

"This is Alec Meadows, I'm calling about the delivery made five days ago by a boy named Jaune."

"Please hold, we have been expecting this call and someone will be with you in a moment." He didn't get to say anything to question who before he was put on hold.

When he was put on hold there was even pleasant music playing. The time he spent waiting was the time he used to review what he had planned for this conversation to be about. 

It would primarily be about who they actually worked for. They knew laughably little about Jaunes organization and they needed to know more.

After an enlightening conversation with Victor about his past and why he was so wary about Jaune, they came to the conclusion that he was some kind of enforcer. He's never met a huntsman personally with only Julia as the only other person in the group besides Victor to have seen one. He's still sceptical towards all the things he said the girl did but the fear he saw in his eyes was real enough for him to at the very least act cautiously the next time they meet. 

Eventually, the music stopped playing and a gruff voice could be heard from the scroll.

"I'm Daniel Crane and the owner of Cranes food delivery. My nephew has told me about you and I'm quite interested to hear what you have to say." 

Saving the remark about Jaune being his nephew for later and the fear that he might have said something negative in the back of his mind, he instead started talking about the actual reason he called.

"It was a success is the first thing-" 

"What are you even talking about?" Daniel interrupted him with a tone of confusion and doubt. 

Daniels response confused him as well. "The job of cou-" He stopped speaking as he realized that this must be some kind of test. If Jaune spoke to him then he should know about the job. Was he supposed to speak in code? "The job that your nephew helped us with and we would like more of his help."

"And what would you need his help for?" Daniels tone had at the very least shifted to one of interest now, something that he was glad for.

He tried thinking of something that wouldn't sound to incriminating on a scroll conversation. "For help with strategies in our... boardgame?" It was the only thing that came to mind at the moment, they couldn't afford many ways of entertainment before so they bought that stupid Dungeons and Grimm game. They only used it once before giving up after half of them failed to learn how the game works.

It makes for a good excuse at least.

"You do realize that we're a food delivery company, why would we need to send someone over to play a board game?!"

Or not.

It only now hits him how stupid and suspicious that sounds. That might be why Jaune came with that box of steaks last time and why he gave me a card for the company instead of a personal number. 

"We will, of course, order food as well." Alec started listing some dishes that he saw when he looked around their website earlier.

The rest of the conversation went more smoothly after that. He was even invited to a membership that would give him discount and bonuses, that might have been Daniels way of welcoming him to the organization. 

He felt a little bitter about being considered a subordinate already but he couldn't do much about it right now.

The conversation was almost at its end when he got to the part he's been fearing ever since they finished the first job.

"And you understand that payment will include both this order and the previous one?" Payment, another of saying how much money they would take as their part of the score. 

While the others were celebrating after the first successful robbery, he and Victor were the only ones that were worried about how much they could actually keep. He has heard about gangs that would take more than half as their part of the cut from the people that actually did the work. 

One would think this would lead to them deserting but their leaders would use... creative ways to make them stay, fear of death and blackmail being the most common. He swallowed nervously before answering.

"Yes." He didn't want to know what they would do if he didn't say anything else.

"Great then I will be sending Jaune when the food is ready, you can expect us around six. Though he won't be alone as the amount you ordered will be a little much for one person to carry."

And with a farewell, he cancelled the call.

Alec thought he would be calmer after the call but it only served to stress him out more. He now had had to arrange the appropriate amount of money and prepare for multiple people that could also be on the same combat level as Jaune.

He almost wished he was arrested instead of his boss now, he wouldn't be this stressed in prison.

* * *

Jaune Arc was laying in the guest room at his uncles' place bored out of his mind.

After he delivered the food and helped those guys with their game, he was pretty proud of himself. That pride stayed with him all the way back to his uncle, his pride only lasted for so long until his uncle told him it was the wrong place.

He had delivered it to Trident street and not Tritent street, the one that actually ordered it had already called about the delay. Jaune wanted to rectify his mistake but his uncle gave him money and told him to enjoy the city instead. He didn't need to say anything but he could feel how disappointed he was in him.

He felt like he had broken the trust his uncle had put in him and spent the rest of the day reading comics in his room. Even after his uncle came back with an apology and an invitation to try again he didn't feel up to try again. He would just disappoint him most likely.

That's why he was confused when his uncle came back again with the same offer, one that he would have refused if it wasn't for who he was delivering to.

He accepted and was now on his way to the people he accidentally delivered to, had now become actual customers. 

They must have really liked the food.


	6. Chapter 6

For Jaune Arc, the place hadn't changed at all since he was here, at least on the outside. Inside it was entirely different as the atmosphere was notably different.

After Alec let them in with Jaune letting the other guys unload the food as his uncle gave him instructions to focus on the customers. He felt a little bad leaving them to do the hard work as some of the packages looked quite heavy. The worries went away as soon they lifted one of them as if they were filled with air, one that he remembers weighing almost half as much as he.

It's not like the guy was ripped with muscles either, but that didn't stop him from carrying the package inside. He was so distracted by the sight of it that he barely noticed that Alec was inviting him further in.

After making sure to remember to ask the guy later about how to become that strong, he followed Alec towards the same room as last time. When they sat down he could see him relax and wince shortly after. The two actions so shortly after made him curious enough to question why.

"I got injured on a job three days ago, working last night might have aggravated it. The injury doesn't bother me as much as before but it still hurts when I'm not careful." He was visibly nervous as he answered for some reason.

Jaune was worried for him and had his sympathies. The way he said 'a job' and not 'the job' means that he has multiple jobs and he still lives in a place that looked as old as this place does even with income from more than one job.

Jaune doesn't really know how tiring it could be to have multiple jobs but he had to do two chores at the same time once. One of his sisters promised him that she would buy a new comic for him if he did her chores for a week. 

He wouldn't want to do them injured as Alec says he has done.

"You shouldn't be aggravating your injuries like that, being reckless like that will only make them worse." He feels like a hypocrite considering he's been told the same before but that doesn't mean that he can't point it out.

When Alec started on a what sounded like a protest Jaune continued.

"Your injuries could lead to you messing up a job and I don't want that to happen to you. I might not have known you for long but I already think of you as a friend." He felt some embarrassment after saying that as he doesn't have that many friends in the first place. 

When he doesn't hear a rejection to what was said, he forges ahead with his question.

"Would you mind if I looked at it? I have some first aid training." Jaune didn't know what Alec was feeling when he finished speaking as his expression was a weird mixture of emotions he couldn't place. 

Alec nodded eventually and raised his shirt to let him see.

He had a lot of first aid training both as the one giving it and receiving it. One learned a lot when their sister wanted to become a paediatrician and had a little brother at just the right age to practice on. He still has nightmares from some of the more horrifying diseases and traumas she described. 

He didn't need to know how much force it would take to crack a skull open.

But those experiences made him competent enough to know that the injury isn't too serious, and would just require some days to recover.

"Would you like a massage?" He asked after examining the injury.

"A... massage?"

"You look like you need it. I wasn't sure before, but you look quite tense now that I look closely." He's been praised by his entire family for his skills though when he offers it to other people they just look at him weirdly.

When Alec agrees to one, he immediately gets to work and start massaging him. He can really feel the tension now that he's touching him and it goes for a few minutes in pure silence as he focuses mostly on his back.

When he moves towards his neck, he has relaxed to the point that he looks like an entirely different person with a content smile on his face.

"Where are the other people I met last time? I haven't seen any of them since I got here." Jaune asks after he gets rid of a particularly hard knot.

He doesn't understand what exactly causes it, but all his hard work was instantly destroyed as Alec's body regains all the tension he just got rid off. He starts over again but asks questions that aren't as touchy as that one apparently was.

After he's done, they talk some more before they move on to business.

He gives him the form that says how much money he owes with Alec taking out the appropriate amount of lien and puts in on the table. While Jaune counts the money, he could feel someone staring intensely at him, looking up it turns out to be Alec. He wonders why, but Alec averts his eyes before he can ask.

He wonders what could make him stare at him like that and assume that he's worried about it not being enough lien. He did order a lot of food with the price easily going up to 835 lien.

When he's done with counting, he smiles and gives him the second form. The second form was the one that needs to be signed for it to count as a successful delivery.

When Alec just stares at it with his hands not moving from where they are laying at the table. He's confused at the action and was about to question why until Alec speaks.

"You aren't taking any more than that?"

The question made him double-check that the amount written on the form matched with what he had counted. Both of his actions resulted in 835 lien being the answer.

He shook his head. "We have all the money we're supposed to have. You don't have to give us any more than you already did."

He stared at me for a long time before he grabbed a pen and signed the form.

After that, there wasn't much to do as the other guys had taken all of the packages in already. He said his farewell to Alec before going back to the truck.

The guys inside made sure that the forms and lien were correct before they started driving since his track record wasn't exactly amazing, it wasn't a big deal.

Once everything was checked, they drove back to the warehouse to pick up more.

His mood has improved from that delivery, and the smile on his face didn't slip all the way back.

* * *

Alec Meadows polite smile didn't slip until he saw that their truck rounded the corner.

It was only then that he let out a breath he didn't know he held and gave the signal. The signal was just a series of knocks on the wall, one that would tell them that everything was safe. 

The signal was easily heard and everyone soon came out of their hiding places and to the living room each one holding a weapon. The weapons weren't much, not even mecha-shift, but they would have been enough as a distraction so that they could run.

They were so sure something would go wrong, that they might anger them and would end up with all of them dead.

Instead, he was met with concern and a massage that was better than any lovemaking he's done before.

If it means that his sex life was just that bad or that Jaune was just that good he can think about later.

They even got to keep practically all of the money that they stole.

He won't be complaining if this was how it will be like working for them.

* * *

Jaune Arcs vacation was over and he now held the train ticket that would take him back home. The last three days were especially exciting for him.

Alec ordered more food after that, though not at much as last time, asking for Jaune to come with every time. Every time he would ask him for advice on how to proceed on their game. 

His advice was for them to use the money they got to upgrade the gear they already had, one can't go for anything bigger than Dust shops without better gear.

Alec looked excited when he said that, which was a nice change from the strange looks he would get when he would suggest it back home.

Maybe its because he usually plays the villain when he says that?

Anyway, it was on the last day before he was going to leave that he gave Alec his scroll number. Their conversations were fun and he considered him a friend that he didn't want to lose contact with. 

He said he would call him before the next 'job' started, another way of saying 'session' most likely. Jaune was eagerly waiting for that call as it felt good for some of his plans to come to use again and hoped that Alec would invite him to an actual session next time.

He would have a place to stay to as his uncle had said he was welcome anytime.

Eventually, it was time for the train to depart. Jaune boarded the train and found a good seat near the back of the train. As they left the station he felt like it wouldn't be long until the next time he came here.


	7. Chapter 7

Jaune Arc was feeling exhausted from doing his chores today. The task for today was to help with clearing an area of trees and plants. His village had reached max population which meant that they had to build an extension, one that required an area clear of obstructions.

They had been divided into three teams, one that clears the area, one that takes what they clear away and one that protects them from Grimm.

It was the latter group he wanted to be with, he was actually the most enthusiastic when it comes to volunteering for it when it came up but his father denied him that. Since his dad was the leader of the village defences, he couldn't do anything about it.

The reasons he were given about not being ready or not having combat experience he understood but it's hard when he isn' allowed to. Every time he asked he would receive a no or to wait until he's older.

He couldn't ask anyone else with ever single that he asks telling him to ask his dad.

He thought that by joining the defence team he might get a chance to prove himself in a way that could convince his dad. How hard could it even be to defeat a Grimm?

In the end, he signed up for the team that would be clearing the are, at least they would be getting some tools to clear the area. If one was to squint, a machete could be a heroic weapon and he could pretend he was smiting some great enemy as he cut down a bush.

He had started to miss what he did back in Vale.

Alec hasn't called him even once since he left and after over a month of waiting, he was starting to lose hope. It wouldn't be the first time someone he thought of as a friend was just acting friendly.

With these depressing thoughts, he continued his work cutting down bushes and cutting down small trees. It was at an especially tough tree that his scroll rang.

His scroll ringing wouldn't have been bad in any other situations but it ringing so suddenly when he was concentrating on his task made him jump out of surprise. The action causing him a great amount of pain as he cut his hand. He put down his machete on the bush to inspect the injury.

It luckily wasn't a great cut and he would only need some bandage. As he was inspecting his wound he took his scroll to see who he should blame for his injury.

When he saw who was calling, his excitement couldn't be contained as he answered with the pain in his hand entirely forgotten.

"Hey Alec, how have you been?" He didn't look any different since the last time that Jaune saw him.

Alec didn't say anything, his silence curbing Jaunes enthusiasm. He looked worried and Jaune wondered if he had another fight with Tom. When they talked, Alec would only talk about how frustrating it got when they worked together.

When Alec finally started to talk when the silence was bordering on awkward, it was with his own question.

"I hope that this isn't a bad time? You look very busy with what I'm seeing." The question confused him since he wasn't doing anything.

It was when he looked behind himself that he noticed what he might be looking at. With the way he was holding his scroll, the camera could pick on the multiple people behind him that were still working. It also reminded him that he can't talk for too long unless he wants someone to come over and scold him for slacking.

"Its nothing special, I was just..." What was it that they said again? "Removing some obstructions to make room for expansion."

He picked up his machete and showed it off to him. "I've been hard at work all morning, I was cutting down one that was really tough when you called."

He doesn't know what he expected for Alec to say in response but it certainly wasn't what he was about to say.

"I see...That one must have been strong to be able to challenge you." The serious expression he had as he said this made what Alec said even more confusing.

What does that even mean? Was he supposed to say something to in response or just nod along?

He nods to what he thinks was supposed to be a question and hopes that works as a response. He quickly changes the topic when Alec doesn't say anything more.

"Can I ask why you called? I'm of course glad that you called, but is it possible to call you up later?"

"Of course! Call me when you're done." And with that, he disconnected the call.

This meant he had to get back to work now, which he was about to when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Jaune Arc, what are you doing? If you want-," For some reason the voice, one he easily recognized as belonging to one of his sisters, stopped speaking. The reason she stopped becoming obvious when she turned me around and took his injured hand to inspect it. The pain coming back now that he was no longer distracted.

She looked at it for some time before taking out a rag and tying it around his hand.

"You should probably go home now." She said it with a finality that was hard to argue against, but he tried anyway.

"But-."

"I know you promised dad, but I know he will understand if you had to go home early because of an injury. We're almost done anyway." She gestured around them, letting him see that apart from a few big trees that the area was cleared.

She continued. "And Saphron has been practically begging me to find a way to let her have some time with her favourite brother."

The retort came automatically with a hint of laughter behind it. "I'm her only brother."

"Doesn't change anything." She started pushing him in the direction towards the village gates. "Now get out of here, and bring the machete with you. Some of your blood got onto it and cleaning that is your responsibility."

It's only because of what she said that he noticed the blood that was on it. The machete that Jaune was waiving in front of Alec, no wonder he looked at him like that.

As he walked back towards the village he hoped it wouldn't cause any misunderstandings.

* * *

Alec Meadows was once again filled with complicated feelings.

His call to Jaune was to notify him about suspicious activity that involved them. A gang known as the Crimson Claw have been asking about them in a manner that suggested that they thought of them as a threat.

Before he met Jaune he would have been worried, probably thinking of a way to leave the city. But thanks to Jaune's help they now have better gear and a new hideout that they can use in case they find the first one.

That was the information he was gonna give Jaune in the call. Jaune's wide smile and a bloodied weapon made him forget that. His talk of removing 'obstructions' to make room for expansion made him worry for an entirely different reason.

What he said sounded like doublespeak for removing another gang and the way some of those people in the background were digging holes, he can easily guess how.

Why can't he just have a break for once?


	8. Chapter 8

Jaune was currently standing outside his sister bedroom, thinking.

After he came home to bandage the cut and clean the blade, he called Alec. The conversation they had was both exciting and annoying at the same time.

Jaune didn't mean to say that Alec was annoying but that the way he speaks can sometimes get a little tiring. He knows of some people that would never break character the entire time they're playing and it's something that he always thought of as impressive. Alec turned out to that type of player, it's only that he never breaks character.

Which meant that he had to translate every conversation into something that actually made sense.

With the way he speaks, one would think that the crimes he speaks about were actually real.

The conversation they just had was one of those that didn't make much sense, forcing him to mostly just nod pretending that he understood. The part about a rival gang he understood and he first thought it was meant as a new scenario. One that would be played out on a Dungeons and Grimm board.

But the way he spoke about it made it seem like he was talking about an actual group, one that Alec felt they needed for him to meet.

He was confused but didn't want Alec to know that so he said that he would call back later. He needed to do some research.

After searching on the CCTNet for answers, he found one that made things clearer.

Alec's group were LARPing.

He was confused when he first read the acronym that stood for live action role-playing. Jaune didn't understand how that explained thing but it made more sense when he read the description. It explained so much,

Why Alec was always in character.

Why they needed him to explain how he would do a robbery, they needed to know how they would act it out.

It explained why it's been so long since he contacted him too, they must have been busy planning the next session with another group. He felt a warm feeling in his chest that they invited him to their LARP session, Jaune felt like he would need to do his best not to disappoint him.

It was with these feeling that he had walked to Saphron's room, she was the one that introduced him to these types of games, she might have some tips. 

Jaune knocked on the door, opening it when he heard an answer.

Looking around her room he could see various boxes inside with his sister busy stuffing some clothes inside one of them. He walks inside and waits for Saphron to be done.

When she's done sealing the box she sits down at her bed, patting a hand at the spot next to her. Seeing the invitation he sits down only to be engulfed into a hug.

"I'm going to miss being able to hug you guys whenever I want." She held on to him for a little longer before letting go.

"It's kinda hard to hug someone when they're on a different continent. I'm going to miss you when you leave tomorrow." He gave a sad sigh at that.

"You do know that I will be coming for the holidays and I'm always just a scroll away." She didn't expect the mood to take a spiral downwards and was just awkwardly patting him on the back.

"Who else will I be able to guilt into eating Pumpkin Pete's cereal with me?" The pat on his back stopped and he was lightly punched in the shoulder instead.

"I can't believe I fell for that one."

"But seriously, I am going to miss you." Saphron was one of the sisters he was closest to, she was also the first one that would be leaving the house. 

"Though it's weird how you decided that the first place you would move to was going to on a different continent. You really made dad think he had done something wrong."

Saphron had never looked more out her depth when that happened. She was one of the oldest which meant she had seen a lot of the things that went on in the house, dad crying was apparently a first. He wasn't consoled until she promised him that she wasn't moving because he had done something wrong. 

Saphron's expression told Jaune she was thinking of the same memory.

"It's just where the chips fell, Terra got a job offer there and I didn't have anything against moving there."

They did some more small talk until he ended up helping her with packing. She only needed his help to seal the packages up as she was mostly done already.

It was on the last box that Jaune finally decided to ask the question.

"Saphron, do you know what LARPing is?" She gave a thoughtful frown before answering.

"It's been some time since I last played. Why do you ask?"

He explained that he had been invited to play and he needed some tips. The frown turned into a sigh of relief when he was done.

"That's good, I was worried you would be lonely after your friends moved. It's good you found people with similar interest. It's troubling that you're playing that game again though."

"Why?" Saphron never really told him much about why they couldn't play that anymore.

"It's because it was a bad influence on you."

"How?" It confused him, how could a game be a bad influence?

"You do remember how you learnt to lockpick?"

"I was curious when the DM wasn't able to explain to me how to do it." It also helped him when he didn't remember to bring the house key. It was very convenient when he didn't have to worry about being locked outside.

"What about the time you ran a black market at school?"

"My prices were fair and I never got a single complaint." They were eleven years old so they weren't exactly rich with lien. They mostly bartered instead of using money.

"You even learnt how to forge our parents signature."

"It helped improve my handwriting and I used it only in emergencies." Emergencies were technically the times where he forgot to give papers for them to sign and it was too late by the time he remembered.

"The point is Jaune." She looked at me seriously before continuing. "Can you say with absolute certainty that you won't go overboard with this?"

He was going to just nod before realizing how serious she was, he thought about her question seriously and answered.

"Yes, it's just a game. I might have been a bit too into it before, but I'm older now." 

She gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking to her closet. She searched for something as she talked.

"That good. I'm just worried that you might end up in the wrong crowd." She quieted as Jaune heard something fall down. "Don't worry about that. What I was looking for was under a lot of things."

She came out of the closet with a small box in her arms. Opening it revealed some clothes, a mask and some other accessories.

"I have some old things that I don't use anymore that you can have. They should fit you as we can just adjust it if it doesn't." She took up the mask and he could see that the inside wasn't just a regular mask but looked like something the military would use.

"How much did it cost?" 

"About all the money I had at the time with some money loaned from mom and dad, but it was worth it. I even got the mask at a discount from some Atlas mercenary group. Don't remember the name but their masks looked cool so I bought it."

"Are you really going to just give it to me?" Everything in the box looked expensive.

"I don't need, but you do. I will teach you all I know about how to play before I leave." She had started to lay the contents of the box out and laid them on the bed.

The following lessons were tough as she apparently wanted him to become an expert in two days. One of the most important lessons, at least according to Saphron, was the name you pick.

He wasn't sure what he was supposed to think about her first suggestion.

What kind of name was Puppetmaster?


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't plan to write this much, but it was hard to find a good point to cut it off that didn't feel natural. For those that are curious about the name Puppetmaster, it won't be a permanent name. It will be something Jaune uses until he comes up with something better or maybe the criminal underworld will come up with one for him.

Jaune was once again in Vale, at his uncles' place.

He arrived here two days ago and has been mostly working at his business for most of the time. His uncle didn't mind that he came back for another visit.

Working there hadn't changed much except for higher pay, it turns out that Alec's group had become eager customers of his uncles' services. It was nice knowing that the mistake he made turned out great for both parties in the end.

He was now in the guest bedroom preparing the last few things before he left. He would be using a bag to bring the clothes with him, it would be better if he changed there instead of walking around town dressed in that outfit.

He still wasn't entirely sure about wearing it.

Tossing the bag on to his back he went out, giving a quick goodbye to his uncle.

"Have fun, use the key if you come home past ten." His uncle shouted back.

Stepping outside, he could see that the sun was low in the sky but it wouldn't be down for another hour. Zipping his jacket closed, Jaune started on the long way over to Alec's house.

After two buses and a short walk from the nearest stop, he was at the door, knocking.

It didn't take long before Victor came and opened the door. Asking for a room to change, he was led to a bathroom on the second floor to do so. It didn't take long before he was finished giving himself one last look in the mirror.

The clothes themselves weren't anything extraordinary as they were just a skirt, dress pants and a vest in varying shades of grey. He wore a coat that reached down a little further than it was supposed, almost to his knees, as he hadn't quite hit his growth spurt. There were only two things that made the outfit a little strange.

First were his shoes that had been changed into combat boots with each shoe tipped with metal. It was weird at first with the shoes being just heavy enough for him to notice the difference between it and his regular ones. They were comfortable at least.

The second thing was the mask. It was a featureless white mask with two eye holes and a small speaker where the mouth would be. The speaker itself was barely noticeable and he didn't know it was there until Saphron pointed it to him. Inside there was a microphone connected to the speaker, the voice that would come was clear

The eyeholes where a little different from regular masks as they had some sort of protective glass covering over them. The glass was made so that one couldn't see the eyes from outside, only seeing their own reflection if they tried.

When he put on the mask he looked like a completely different person. 

Finally being done, he went downstairs to meet the others. Tonight would only be him, Victor, Alec and Julia. Their reactions to his look were different from what he expected with only Alec having an obvious reaction. Jaune wasn't sure of what to think of the despair filled expression Alec had from looking at him.

Was his outfit that bad?

Before he could ask what Alec meant by his expression, he had already started walking outside with Victor saying something about getting the car. That left him with Julia, who he only now realizes he has never actually talked too.

When his first try at conversation with her only ended in shrugs and stares that lasted just long enough to become awkward, he decided that silence might be the best option when it comes Julia.

The silence that continued made Jaune promise himself to make sure that he's never left alone with Julia again.

* * *

Victor wasn't really worried about the meeting, it wasn't his first time. He had participated as both a leader of a gang and a leader's bodyguard. Alec, Julia and him were the people that had the combat experience or were smart enough not to cause trouble. 

When Jaune came down with a new outfit that looked like he was ready for war, Victor wasn't that surprised. He's done similar things when other groups threatened him.

Julia was rarely surprised by anything.

But Alec didn't have as much experience with this as he had so he was currently being dragged to the car as Alec freaked out about Jaune's outfit.

By the time they got to the car, Alec had finally calmed down and asked about his thought for tonight.

"Do you think today will go smoothly?" Victor thought of his answer as he drove the car towards the house. He arrived at the only realistic answer he had when they stopped in front of it.

"I don't know if it will go smoothly or end in catastrophe, but I do know it will be... interesting."

* * *

The ride to their destination was a ride filled with new sights for Jaune. 

Their destination was a club near the industrial districts known simply as the Club, a simple name. The Club was apparently were everyone would do their meetings as it was considered a neutral place. That they made sure the rules were followed.

When they arrived at the building he was glad for the mask hiding his expression as he couldn't help but be amazed at its size. He was expecting something small like a house, not a building that could fit easily fit an airship inside and still have room to spare.

Jaune looked at all the other buildings on the street because this couldn't be the place they were supposed to be.

His observation pointed to this being the only place it could be as everywhere else either seemed abandoned or didn't have their lights on. The rest of the group pointedly walking in that direction was his second clue.

A man dressed in a black suit and red sunglasses inspected them before he let them in. He gave Jaune a longer inspection than the other before he sighed and let him in.

That's the second reaction that wasn't exactly positive, making him have second thoughts about wearing the outfit, it does stand out.

"At least I'm not wearing sunglasses at night." He muttered after he was inside, though he might as well have talked normally and it wouldn't have made a difference with how loud the music inside was. 

As they walked in, it was Victor who took the lead as he leads the group to a booth far in the back. It took some time to get together because of the distance and the number of people that were in here. That it was so far away meant that Jaune was able to observe most of the first floor and what he saw made him feel nervous.

There wasn't a single person even close to his age. 

He knows that it's something he should have expected with everyone in Alec's group being at least over twenty. Saphron had said that some groups didn't like it when kids joined, thinking that they would ruin the game. Jaune hoped this wasn't one of them.

Going onto a different topic, the one who runs this place must be earning a fortune with how booked it is. He didn't know that there would be this many people that were into LARPing in Vale. 

After a few minutes just waiting for the right time, Jaune felt that he needed the toilet. Forgetting to go before they left and his nervousness wasn't a good combination.

He thought the toilet wouldn't be hard to find, as Victor had just pointed to one of the doors that went further inside, but he somehow managed to get lost. The corridor past the door started to branch into different directions with every door he went past looking exactly the same.

It didn't help he would sometimes walk down or up the stairs making him unsure if he was even on the first floor anymore. Jaune had also managed not to meet a single person this entire time. How big even was this place?

He had almost given up hope when he finally saw someone. Standing at the next swing stood a short girl with her back towards him, she looked like she was playing on her scroll.

She was shorter than him, the first person tonight that was. Her hair was divided into brown and pink, the split so even that he wanted to ask if it was natural. The clothing included a white jacket, brown pants with black and white boots. The boots had very high heels which meant that she was shorter than she was now. 

He was about to speak but was interrupted by her hand coming up and forming three quick signs. She didn't turn around and kept her attention on the scroll. He didn't recognize the first two as she flashed through them to fast for him to really see. It was the third sign, one middle finger raised towards him that made him respond, more angrily than intended.

"There's no need to be rude! I just wanted to know where the toilet was." Jaune turned around to go back to the maze of corridors and try his luck.

He had barely walked one step in that direction before he was turned around. The girl had turned him and pointed at a door to his right with a parasol. He had no idea how she turned him around with her back still turned but questions like that can be asked after he's done with his business. 

Where the parasol came from he had no idea.

Opening the door she pointed at revealed that it was a toilet, they really should have better labels in this place.

* * *

Neo was quickly getting bored at Roman's meeting taking longer than he said. She was bored enough to download a scroll game and she proceeded to get bored with that.

She was honestly considering to just teleport back to base and let Roman wait for a few hours. At least he would feel the pain that she's been feeling for the past fifteen minutes if she did that.

She was just about to that when she heard the sound of someone coming from behind her. Neo didn't recognize the footsteps belonging to someone important, way too light for that, she flashed two signs that would mean 'go away' in sign with a third sign that would get the message across. She does not have the patience to deal with people right now.

"There's no need to be rude! I just wanted to know where the toilet was."

The voice sounded young so it was probably a kid from one of the families, people that Roman had said they would need to play nice with. Which meant she would have to at least try to help him.

She turned him around and pointed to one of the doors that were obviously marked as the toilet. She didn't turn around the entire time using an illusion to turn him around, while she mostly uses them for misdirection she can use them to move things around. 

Some would say that Neo used a lot more energy than if she had just turned him around herself but this was the only compromise. If she had ignored him, he might go to his parents and complain, which could lead to problems later. And if she turned around he might actually try and... talk to her, something she just doesn't want.

And the results could speak for themselves as the kid went inside without talking to her and it might have ended with that. Neo took a small peek at him before he went inside out of curiosity, to see if she recognized him. Seeing the way he was dressed made her interested and she couldn't leave until the interest was satisfied.

She could always mess with Roman later.

* * *

After a short trip, he was out again and was surprised to find that she was waiting for him right outside the door. 

Now that she had turned around he could see that her hair also had white streaks on the pink side, it started to feel like she was going for a theme. Jaune was glad he wasn't the only that stood out. 

She just stood in front of him and stared for an uncomfortable amount of time, tilting her head from left to right. He was about to say something until she held up a hand at the exact point that he was about to talk. How did she even know that when he had a mask on?

Eventually, it looked like she had come to some sort of decision as she nodded before using her hands to form signs that he could recognize as sign language.

'Do you understand me?' She signed.

"Yes, as long as you don't talk too fast." Having a sister that was born deaf made it a necessity.

'First time I have seen someone like you. How did you get here?' Did she mean someone close to her age? 

"I got lost an-," She did the sign for 'here' again. "Do you mean how I got involved?" She nodded and he began to tell her a short version of his story, from the failed delivery to now.

He tried to at least, she stopped him several times as she had to laugh or ask him to repeat himself before laughing at that too. It was his first time seeing a mute person laugh and it was interesting seeing someone laugh as much as she did and not make a sound. She was breathing heavily with how much she laughed though.

He was actually starting to feel both confused and embarrassed from this as he didn't understand what she was laughing about. The only thing that could be considered funny would be the failed delivery and that was something he believed was funny in hindsight.

She was still silently laughing by the time she was done and he was honestly starting to get worried. Luckily she managed to calm down eventually before Jaune thought about calling for an ambulance. 

'What are your plans now?' He honestly didn't know, he didn't know if there were win conditions like in other games. Was he supposed to steal something specific or defeat someone? This was his first night here, so he was going to see what would happen before he decided.

He said as much to her and got an answer that was too quick for him to understand. Seeing that he wasn't following, she took up a scroll and started typing on it before giving it to him. 

The scroll looked almost brand new and it had just received a message from someone named Neo. Looking at the girl again he saw that she had another scroll and was sending someone a message. When the scroll in his hand made a sound and another message from Neo popped up.

Learning that her name was Neo, felt nice as it was getting tiring thinking of her as just 'the girl'.

'This is my number' The first message was, followed by. 'It will be easier to write the next part.' When he was done reading the first two, a third one popped up.

'Would you like to know how you win?' He was about to write yes before he remembered that she was right in front of him and just nodded.

'The way you win is by taking out the competition until there's no one left that could threaten you.' 

"That feels a little harsh.' He didn't expect the win condition to be that you would have to crush everyone else.

Neo shrugs. 'It's not like you have to destroy everyone. You just have to dominate them enough that they acknowledge you as the winner. The game has been going on for so long that people just want someone to win. As long as you follow the rules everything is allowed.'

"I guess being crowned the winner would be a big thing. Would I even have a chance?" He was actually getting excited from hearing this, When he played on a boardgame he would always have to use his imagination and the goals always felt so small. Defeat this or steal this felt too simple for him.

'Everyone has a chance to win. I will text you later though as my ride is starting to get impatient.' She was wondering what she meant until he saw a ginger-haired man in a bowler hat waiting impatiently at one of the doors.

When did he even get here?

"Yeah, I guess we'll see each other later." She was waving goodbye as she went inside the room the man stood in front of. He closed the door once she was inside.

It was only when the door closed that he remembered that he still held the scroll Neo gave her. Opening up the room they went in revealed only an empty room with no other way out but through him.

He didn't have much time to think over where they could have gone before Victor came and picked him up as they were late for the meeting.

The mystery of Neo's disappearance was put to the side as he had totally forgotten about the meeting.

And looking at the clock on the scroll he was currently over an hour late.


	10. Chapter 10

When Jaune entered the room, he was met with an angry glare.

The man, his name was Desmond if he remembers right, didn't look happy with how late he was, but it looked like he was for some reason restraining himself from speaking. The two men that stood behind him didn't look as angry though they certainly were irritated. 

The room was spacious with a large table in the middle separating their two groups and there was only one chair on each side. A man, dressed the same way as the people who work here only that he wore a vest instead of a jacket stood in the back. He was calm and spoke with a deep voice.

"Now that everyone is here we can start this meeting. I trust that everyone here knows my rules and will follow them?" Jaune had entirely forgotten to ask about the rules.

Jaune was glad that the mask hid his expression at the moment as he didn't want to interrupt and go out of character. It didn't help that he was apparently supposed to lead the conversation as the others were standing behind the chair. 

After this, he will have to ask what his role was supposed to be in the group.

"Yes." Jaune decided to just play along. 

"We will, we respect the rules that have been laid unlike certain people in this room." Jaune felt like he knew who he referred to.

"Then the meeting between Desmond Grimes the leader of the Crimson Claws and..." He paused there and Jaune took it as a cue to reluctantly give his name. 

"Puppetmaster."

"And Puppetmaster the leader of the Burgundy Burglars." The reaction to the name was different depending on the person.

The man who said it didn't react much except for a confused frown, probably wondering if he heard right. From behind him, June could hear a deep sigh and the word 'why' was barely detectable over the laughter that came from Desmond.

"That's a good joke you made, it almost made up for your tardiness with how ridiculous it was. What do you really call yourself?" 

"Puppetmaster." Jaune answered again, much firmer this time. He didn't have plans to always use the name but he didn't like what he was calling his sister's choice of names. 

Only Jaune could do that.

Desmond's glare was back though it was more annoyed than angry at his insistence on the name. 

"I didn't come here to argue about your choice of name, let us move on to the reason I wanted to see you. Your group robbed a store under my protection and I would usually punish you for doing so, but I saw something that I liked." Desmond stopped looking towards Jaune and set his sights at something behind him.

"Viktor Kallo and Julia Wit, a former gang boss and a former member of the Atlas military. The skills that they possess are too valuable for a small group of thieves like yours." Desmond was calmer now in comparison to the beginning of the meeting.

Jaune was not.

His mind was trying to comprehend all the new information he was hearing. Setting aside how cool their backstories are, hasn't the difficulty ramped up to fast.

The first time he was asked for advice on their campaign and now he's supposed to be the leader of a gang that was about to be destroyed if he doesn't hand over a third of the people in it. Saphron said that this was a serious game, but this feels a bit much.

At the same time, Jaune feels the excitement that comes whenever he was given a tough scenario. This one was harder than usual but it will make it even more satisfying when he manages to solve it.

What Jaune has decided for his character too was literally just himself, but more confident. He isn't confident enough to pretend to be someone too different from how he usually is.

"You want them, do I have to give them to you?" The question was directed towards the man sitting in the middle.

"No, it's entirely your decision." 

"And do you two want to join him." He asked Victor and Julia.

A second or two ticked by as he waited for an answer and he was starting to think they would say yes when Victor finally answered.

"...no, not really." Victor spoke slowly and hesitantly. He sounded surprised for some reason.

There was a seconds pause before Victor continued.

"Julia says no too." He was glad that Victor said that as he didn't know what he was supposed to translate the sounds he could hear from behind him.

"I don't have to give them over and they don't want to, if that was all you wanted to talk about then our meeting is over." He stood up and started to walk towards the exit.

"Do you think I am giving you a choice. Either you give them to me or you will find yourself on the losing side of a war you can't win. Your group consists of seven people compared to the dozens of fighters I have at my disposal."

Jaune was in the corridor now and was holding the door open to let the rest of his group through.

"Do you actually expect to win this?"

Jaune stood by the door and pretended to think about his answer, but he already knew what it would be ever since Neo told him about the game.

"Yes." 

* * *

The ride back home was silent.

He would have expected them to at the very least ask him what his plan was but not a single conversation was started.

It wasn't until they went through the door that he heard someone talk. The one who spoke wasn't any of them though, it was Jimmy who was waiting in the hallway was the one to break the silence.

"Back already from the meeting. How did it go?" 

"It's hard to say, how did the meeting go Jaune?" Victor sounded more curious than he was expecting. Jaune was glad that Victor would at the very least hear him out first. 

He could finally use the speech that he has been preparing ever since they left the meeting. 

"It went exactly as planned." He chose to exclude that he didn't plan for it until today. He was about to continue but was interrupted.

"How is this according to plan?!" Alec shouted. "We just pissed off one of the biggest gangs in the area and they will most likely just kill us all now." 

Before Alec could continue, Jaune grabbed his hand and spoke.

"Aren't you tired of being at the bottom?" Alec stopped and listened, though it felt more out of confusion at the question.

Maria and Tom had also come into the hallway, probably wondering what the shouting was.

He looked to each person to make sure he had their attention before continuing. He was really glad that he asked his dad for lessons on public speaking before he left.

"For how many years have you lived in the bottom always looking out for threats while picking up the few scraps you could find? Thinking that everything would be over as soon as someone stronger noticed you? That climbing your way to the top is pointless after seeing how many have failed?" Alec nodded to every question.

"Everyone at the top was at one time someone like you, they picked up scraps and never thought that they would become anything greater. Until one day that they decided that enough was enough and took the risk."

Jaune stared right into his eyes, he hoped that the reflective glass didn't ruin the moment, and asked a simple question.

"Will you take that risk with me?" 

The answer came not from Alec, but from someone that he honestly didn't expect.

"I'm in," Tom said and turning to him for an explanation didn't give him much. "I don't think you'll make things worse at least."

"If Tom says he is in then I want in too." Adds Jimmy. "I don't have anywhere else to go anyway."

"Might as well join in too." Victor sighed. "Working for a guy like Desmond probably wouldn't have been as exciting as it will be with you."

Julia's answer was a simple shrug and a tilt of the head in their direction. She would just go with what the rest of them decided, was what Jaune translated it to mean.

"I thought only idiots would take risks like this." Maria looked annoyed, but she spoke in an amused tone. "Didn't think I would be one of those idiots."

Everyone had agreed to it except for one person. Alec probably felt the pressure as everyone was pointedly staring in his direction. He looked conflicted with his eyes darting back and forth until he finally came to his decision.

"Fine." Alec finally answered as everyone cheered. "But if we die, I reserve the right to say I that this was a bad idea."


	11. Chapter 11

Despite Jaune's grand speech yesterday, there wasn't much else the did that night. Jaune had to go home early since he had promised his uncle to help him at his business. The only thing that they actually planned was to find out as much information that they could about Desmond and his gang for next time they meet.

Jaune had trouble sleeping that night because of how excited he was and the plans that he kept coming up with. They ranged from complex plans that would require several steps to the most simple one where they just killed Desmond.

Not literally speaking of course.

It's also a route he doesn't really want to take as it didn't feel right. To take him out wouldn't be as simple as just taking a gun and shooting him. They would need to find out where he lives, what his security is and can they take them out with the few people that they have. Desmond did say that he had at least a dozen of people experienced in combat. 

Jaune might be overthinking this, and starting to get a little weird thinking about the best way to kill a person.

He needs information about Desmond if he wants a plan that could actually work. Jaune won't get any information until the group meets again after he's done at work. Jaune starts to look around the bedroom for anything to distract him from his thoughts. 

The room felt a lot quieter than back home, it would have to be since he slept with the twins and it sometimes felt like a small concert with the mix of sounds he heard. From the sound of someone shifting their position in bed, snoring, the occasional fart and more. He wouldn't say that he miss the sounds, the twins would send him a recording of that in the format of a lullaby if he did, but he does miss them.

It didn't help that it felt so unnatural to sleep so far down. Sleeping on the top of a triple bunkbed meant that he could easily bump his head on the ceiling, an event that many of his sisters said that they use as an alarm clock.

Thinking about the alarm clock reminds him to check if he put the alarm on his scroll right. Looking towards the bedside table where he put his and Neo's scroll.

He had almost forgotten about the brand new scroll that Neo gave to him.

Jaune could call her and ask if she knows anything. Glancing at the clock reveals that it's currently three in the morning, he sends a text instead considering the time.

'Are you busy today?' He didn't expect an answer, but the scroll dinged before he had even set it back down.

'?' 

'You're awake this late?' He isn't one to talk as he's awake too, but he does wonder what her reason is.

'😉' Jaune waits for her to write more, but moves on to his next question when she doesn't write more.

'Do you want the scroll back? You left before I could give it to you.' He wanted to make sure that he didn't forget about this scroll not being his. 

'¯\\_(ツ)_/¯' 

'Does that mean you want me to keep it?' The scroll was brand new and looked barely used.

'👍' He didn't know what to say about getting an expensive scroll like this except thanks. 

'Thanks. I was wondering if you knew anything about Desmond Grimes? I kinda declared war against him.'

'😂👎👍' Jaune doesn't understand what about his sentence was funny, was it the way it was worded?

'Are you saying you don't know, but you can find out or that you do know and can't tell me anything?'

'1✔️ 2❌' She knows, but she can find out is what she means. This conversation is very different from their last one where her text was so long that he had to scroll down to read them.

'Are you busy right now?' Maybe that's why the response is so short.

'💩uf😈feoijfejf😎😷' Neo's response surprised him with how little sense it made, what she sent up to now had at least made sense in context, but not this. Before he could ask what she meant he got another text.

'Ignore that, my hand slipped.' The message was in actual words this time. Jaune hoped that it meant she would start to use actual words in the conversation. 

Are you free this afternoon? We could meet up and talk about this further.' He could use the coupon that his uncle gave him at the place they would meet up. I hope Neo likes ice cream.

'👍' She sent a gif too, it showed a man standing at a crossroads looking left and right. It was obvious what she meant.

'At this ice cream place downtown, I can send you the address later.' He was finally starting to get sleepy. 'I might fall asleep soon so I will have to say goodnight for now.'

'👍😊' He was about to put the scroll down when he saw a new text show up. It was a link to a site on the CCTNet with a weird name.

"Meatspin?" Strange name, but it must be some reason that she sent it.

Jaune opened the link and waited for it to load, not thinking much about what it could mean. His face lit up once it loaded and threw the scroll away in shock at what he saw. The music blaring out full volume didn't help much either, he didn't know that the volume was on max.

While he was unsure of what to think about the revelation of how well the name 'meatspin' fit, the door opened. 

His uncle was in the door, he must have been attracted by the loud music that was still coming out from the scroll. Events were moving to fast for him to take control and his uncle already had the scroll in hand, watching the screen. Before he could try to explain to him what happened, his uncle spoke.

"You know Jaune, I won't judge what you would do in your free time since your old enough to know to distinguish between right and wrong." He sounded tired as he said the last part. "But could you please not watch porn at three in the morning on full volume." 

And then his uncle turned the scroll off and left. 

Jaune is not sure how to feel about this, but he's going to talk with Neo that there are certain things you should not send your friends in the middle of the night.

* * *

Neo had sent the link, the only downside is that she wouldn't know his reaction until tomorrow. Did he deserve it?

The slowly healing bruise on her left side says yes. One fighter got a lucky hit on her while she was distracted by the text.

It might not have been the best decision to text someone in the middle of a fight, but she was getting bored. They were so easy to fight, but she wasn't allowed to crush them because Roman needed a distraction. You can only play with someone for so long before the flailing they call fighting goes from entertaining to irritating.

Things in the city had become stagnant with little action happening. There might be small turf war or two but the Families always make sure it doesn't grow too big. Roman says that's a good thing, but if nothing changes she might as well move to Mistral or Vacuo. 

Hopefully, things might change soon with the things she had put in motion. It still makes little sense how a kid managed to somehow become the leader of a gang, but he did it somehow.

He might even become the KIngpin someday.

Nah.

She can't help but laugh at that thought, the day he becomes the Kingpin is the day that Roman quits smoking.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back.

After Jaune woke up, he had to deal with his uncle's explanations on puberty and how it was totally normal for someone his age to have those urges. 

This wasn't the first time he had to go through a conversation like that since his sisters and parent's all had their own versions to tell about puberty. It was only later he found out that they hadn't told each other that they had told him which meant he got nine different perspectives on puberty.

It had now gone up to ten.

He was luckily able to get out of it before his uncle started to ask questions about how he found that video. It's a question he would like to ask too.

Today wouldn't be too different from any other days at his uncle's company. He would be an assistant to a few deliveries that needed and extra hand and learn a few tricks from the people that work there.

There wasn't much to tell about the deliveries themselves and he was fone with his shift a few hours later. It was just in time too as it was almost time to meet up with Neo.

They had another conversation while he was at work, one that was more him that had had to translate her strange of texting and had decided that they would meet up at his uncle's place instead.

He would have just enough time to have a shower and was in had already started to take off his clothes the second he was inside the apartment. It was only when his pants were halfway down his legs and he was in the living room that Jaune noticed that there was someone else in the room with him.

On the couch sat a girl around his age with green eyes and black hair styled into twin tails. 

They stared at each other, him with a confused expression and her with a raised eyebrow. He had never met her before until it clicked and he could stop the blush that crept up his face.

"Neo?" A thumbs up from the person in question answered that. And he still stood there without anything to cover his upper body and with his pants down his legs, paralyzed by indecision.

There was only one thing that could make this situation worse.

"Jaune is that you? I let your friend in and-" The voice of his uncle entered the situation as he walked into the room. He didn't finish his sentence and looked at him and Neo until his eyes shone with a sudden insight. Did he know how to defuse this awkward situation?

"Jaune, if you wanted to have some alone time with your girlfriend then you only had to ask." He waggled his eyebrows. "I have a meeting now so you don't have to worry about me interrupting."

If his sisters were here they would have said that the blush he had now had to be at least in the top three and the one responsible was already on his way out before he could he say anything to explain what really happened. The last Jaune heard of his uncle before the closed were a few words about 'young love' and 'they grow up so fast'.

Jaune and Neo had resumed their staring contest and it was only ended by Neo as she had started to waggle her eyebrows the same way his uncle did. That was the last push Jaune needed to finally move as his mind simply couldn't take it anymore and rushed to the bathroom door. 

He managed to trip on his pant since they were still down and crashed into the door that would probably lead to a few bruises to appear later. He managed to open the door and closed it as soon as he was inside.

Even though he had never heard Neo speak or make any sound, he still felt like he could hear laughter.

The shower was cold and helped him calm down. After what happened he wanted to just stay inside the shower and not come out until this situation had faded from memory. 

In the end, he left the shower and started to put on new clothes. He had never been gladder that he always placed a new change of clothes in the bathroom after every shower. When you live in a house with nine other people and only one shower one had to learn to be efficient when one could finally use the shower in the morning.

It also meant that even though he tried to use as much time as possible before he had to go back, he was still out in less than ten minutes.

He opened the door slightly and saw that Neo stood in the hallway and looked expectantly at him. When he didn't move instantly she pointed to the clock that hung in the living room and to the door. It was clear what the message was and he hurried to put his shoes back on.

It wasn't far to where they were supposed to go, but any conversation was scarce. One would think that they were complete strangers if it was looked at from an outsiders perspective.

In reality, it was only that Jaune felt too embarrassed to talk and had braced himself for Neo to bring up what happened back there. The cafe they arrived at after five-minute walk that had to be at least in the top ten of the most uncomfortable in his life.

The cafe was newly opened and was one of his uncle's newest customers. He had helped them when they first started out so he had received a special coupon that could be used every time he ate here. One that he had given Jaune permission to use whenever he wanted. 

It was at this point that Jaune felt like he had to say something, anything really.

"You look different today. Did you change your hair or something?" 

The answer to that question was obvious and the look that Neo gave him told Jaune enough. Off all the topics he could bring up, he just had to start with her appearance. Why can't he be as smooth in conversation that his persona is, he had almost forgotten how socially awkward he can be sometimes.

'This is how I usually look when I am not playing the game." Neo replied eventually. 'And you can call me Mint when I am dressed like this.'

Her reply made him wonder how much time she used to put on everything she needed for her costume. Did she buy two sets of coloured lenses and combine them or do they sell sets with two different colours? Does she dye her hair or use a wig. He has so many questions now, but he has to remember what they came out here for in the first place.

"Mint, what do you want to order?" It was time to get the needed information to crush Desmond Grimes.


	13. Chapter 13

As Jaune read the information 'Mint' had given him, the possibilities that came to mind were endless.

The information that she collected wasn't as much as he hoped, but it would be enough. He was unsure of how to thank her for this and wanted to ask her how. It was clear what she wanted through the instant he was about to open his mouth. One could clearly see that she was completely captivated by the small card on the table. She had stared at it ever since she took the first bite of her ice cream and hadn't stopped since.

Which was impressive when one remembered that she was currently on her fourth one.

The object of her desires was the special coupon that his uncle had let him borrow. 

He carefully took the card off the table and put in his pocket. Her eyes didn't leave it the entire way and they instantly stared at him as soon as the card was out of sight. His mom told him once that someone's eyes can sometimes say a lot more than words could and he could easily see what she had meant by that.

Jaune had never seen someone look so desperate for a thing when he looked into Mint's eyes. He froze for a second as he was pretty sure she would do anything to get that coupon card, anything.

The ice cream couldn't have been that good, right? He was barely halfway through his first one and it didn't taste any better than regular ice cream. He had started to panic as her stare had started to become more intense the longer he sat there, frozen. She was almost done with her ice cream and Jaune knew that he had to say something to resolve this situation. 

He didn't want to know what would happen once that spoon went into the bowl and there was no more ice cream left to sate the beast in front of him.

"Mint!" His voice cracked as he started to talk. The crack surprised her enough for the intense stare to lessen a little. 

"You're interested in the coupon, right?" She nodded at the question.

"I can't exactly give it to you since it isn't mine, but I can bring you here whenever you start to feel hungry. Just call me when you feel the need and we can plan for a time to hang out." That he finished his proposal at the same time that she ate her last spoon of ice cream wasn't a coincidence.

She thought about his proposal with a frown and he looked at him with an emotion he couldn't place for an uncomfortable amount of time before she finally nodded. 

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief now that the situation has been settled.

"Good, I have never had a friend younger than me before." She scowled. "You don't want to be my friend?"

He was a little saddened, but didn't get to feel more than that when she did a motion with her hand to say 'not that'. Jaune was glad that wasn't the reason she was angry, but what could have angered her?

"Was it what I said about you being younger than me?" That her scowl deepened was answer enough. "I am sorry. Could you tell me how old you actually are then."

He had expected her to instantly sign how old she was or simply hold up her fingers. Instead, Jaune sits there shocked as she used a lot more time than necessary to remember how old she was.

'Twenty.' She signed and Jaune was sure that his face couldn't look more doubtful even if he tried. 

She clearly saw it but was interrupted by an alarm on her scroll before she could do anything. Jaune didn't know what it was about, but the annoyance she showed when she read it meant that it wasn't something she looked forward too.

"I guess we'll see each other later then." Hopefully, she would forget about the age thing by then.

With the way she lightly glared at him as she ordered ice cream to go it probably wouldn't be soon.

He gave a light wave and a quick goodbye as she left only to be met with the widest smile that he had seen her have. For some people, it might have been cute, but Jaune had multiple siblings that sported the same smile right before something horrible happened. 

He investigated the area around him after she left and found nothing suspicious. He determined that it must have been his imagination and decided that it was time to finally enjoy the remainder of his ice cream.

His hand went to pick up the bowl that he had put to the side at the beginning only to be met with the sound of broken glass. Jaune was certain that he hadn't set his bowl that close to the edge, but it didn't change the facts. His bowl of ice cream laid on the floor shattered and Jaune could only make himself a promise to be more careful next time.

Yet he couldn't help the thought that Mint had something to do with this.

* * *

Neo felt the illusion unravel and couldn't help the feeling of pride that came with it. 

To craft an illusion subtle enough to not be noticed and be as destructive as it turned out to be, only an illusionist of the greatest calibre could do such a thing. That it was only an illusion that made it look like a bowl of ice cream was closer than it actually was didn't matter.

It did hurt her a little to waste the divine ice cream that the place sold.

Neo wasn't sure she could ever go to another place after that and had honestly considered to just take the card from him. She needed the ice cream they sold and she needed it as cheap as possible, most of her budget has to go towards maintenance on her weapon and other equally expensive stuff. The coupon would be the best way unless she tried to rob the place and that might make the place go bankrupt. 

She wanted to take it but had to go with the compromise instead. Jaune might have gotten hurt if he tried to take it away and that would have ruined her entertainment. She couldn't wait to see what Jaune would do to take Desmond out.

It helped that Roman had planned to take care of him one day so she only had to borrow some of his notes. 

Almost everything about the meeting went great, except for one thing and the display window she stopped in front of reminded her of that.

As she stood there and looked at herself from different angles and couldn't help the thought that came forward, one she didn't want to admit.

She looked like a child.

Not like it wasn't on purpose, this specific disguise was meant to look like that and had worked great when she had to sneak up on people as a small innocent child. It had helped her when she lived on the streets and it had helped her after she started to work with Roman.

She had never sat down and thought about how old she was and never really thought of it as important. What did it matter if she was five, twenty or fifty as long as she could still kick ass?

Unfortunately, it didn't help how irritated she felt at Jaune's doubt, maybe it was time to find out how old she was. Was it time to go on a long quest to find out her true age?

Neo could only laugh at that thought.

She can just get Roman to forge a birth certificate. The hard part would be what she wanted to write as her last name on it.


	14. Chapter 14

It wasn't long until the meeting and Jaune had started to worry that he might be late to it.

The reason for his lateness wasn't entirely his fault, he would have been halfway there already if he hadn't taken his uncle's offer for a ride over there. That he saved some money was a bonus, but it also allowed him to ask the guy that managed to lift a heavy crate like it was nothing.

His uncle must have known about his interest somehow since he said that the guy would be one of the drivers. Jaune really needs to know how he did that and how Jaune might learn how to do the same. 

If Jaune knew the technique he used then he would never have any trouble when it was his turn to help at the farm.

Those were the thoughts that Jaune had as he waited for the drivers who were at this point, thirty minutes late.

Luckily, it was only a minute or two after he ran out of games on his scroll to play that they finally arrived. The large shipping container that followed them might have been the reason they were late. It looked banged up and even had a few holes big enough that he could see even though they were on the other side of the warehouse.

It was transported slowly towards the truck that Jaune had leaned against for the last thirty minutes and he was for a second afraid that the guys would stay at the same tempo as the container. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they had started to sprint towards him as soon as the entire container had entered the warehouse.

Jaune could see them more clearly now. 

One of them was of average height with long brown hair in a braid, his tanned skin and muscled frame made him look like a bodybuilder. The other was tall with short dark blue hair and the one who had a physique that didn't match what he could do. Jaune could still remember how easily he lifted that crate, if he had such power then harvest season back home might even be enjoyable.

Jaune tried to greet them but was interrupted by the key that was thrown at him as the brown-haired one ran past him. He was the driver last time Jaune sat with them so he probably had to make the truck ready.

The tall one wasn't far behind and didn't greet him either, instead, he started to do stretches. Was that his secret, that one had to do properly stretch one's body? Can it really be that simple?

He had to turn away when the stretches had started to go a little further than he thought they would. 

Jaune didn't know that a human could bend their back that far.

His attention was finally drawn to the key that he was thrown and realized that he should have used the instant he got it. The key was used to open the back of the truck and lower the ramp.

Jaune did all those things, faster than normal too, but when the container was still only halfway there he figured that he could have taken his time. It left him with some time to ask the guy some of his questions.

"Hello, could I ask you a question or two?" Jaune didn't get a response so he decided to step closer and repeat his question. 

Jaune had barely taken one step before the guy had decided to take his stretches to the next level. He started to bend backwards until his hands could reach the ground and then started to balance on them as he continued to stretch.

Jaune was honestly impressed at this point, the teacher never had them do stretches that advanced. 

The good thing that happened when he started to handstand was that he now faced Jaune at least. It made it much easier to talk with him, even though he was currently upside down.

"Hi, could I ask you a question?" His eyebrow raised up, or down since his face was the other way around. "How did you get so strong?"

At his question, the guy smiled and stopped his handstand and stood on two legs once again.

"Strong? I'm not any stronger than most people." He said as if most people could lift a crate as heavy as a child like it was nothing. Jaune wasn't sure if he was humble or wanted to trick him.

"Most people can't lift crates the way you did like it was filled with air. I just want to know how you did it, I promise not to tell anyone." 

"Of course most people can, they just have to unlock their au-, their inner strength. It took me years of hard work to become as strong as I have." He said it with pride and Jaune felt that it was well deserved.

It must have taken a lot of work to unlock his inner strength.

"Is it possible for me to unlock my inner strength too?"

"Of course, anyone can as long as they train hard enough." 

"Could you teach me how to do it?" Jaune hoped that he could, he said it took years so Jaune needed to start as soon as possible.

His question brought an uncomfortable silence until he spoke in a solemn tone.

"Are you certain? To unlock it would require your blood, sweat and tears. This isn't something you can do unless you really want it." He might have said that to scare him, but it only made Jaune exited.

"Yes, I won't disappoint you."

  
"Then I, Dusky Lark, accept you as my apprentice. I promise that by the end of my training you will have unlocked your inner strength. You might grow as strong as I am." He ruffled Jaune's hair.

"And as your first task, you will go get some food from the cafeteria. We didn't have time to eat because of the delay. The Grimm caused a lot of delays today when it attacked the train."

Jaune accepted his first task as an apprentice and ran towards the cafeteria. He passed the container that was still only a little over halfway at this point and saw the damages that had been caused by the Grimm. It made Jaune glad that he had never encountered a Grimm that could cause this much damage before.

It wouldn't take long to get the food and then Jaune could finally be on his way to the strategy meeting.

* * *

Dusky Lark had a bad day.

His weapon got damaged in a spar, the delivery he had to make today was delayed by a Grimm attack and now he had another kid who had asked him about how he was so strong. That someone asked him how he was so strong wasn't the problem, it wouldn't be the first or last time that happened. It was the fact that he was a kid and they would eventually end up saddened when he told them that he couldn't unlock their aura as it was illegal.

He had even gotten in trouble with their parents a few times and he did not want to explain the illegality of it for the hundredth time. Did they want their kids to live a difficult life?

If he did unlock their aura then they would be under strict restriction on what they could do and punished harshly if they ever did a crime. They would need to join the military, law enforcement or become a huntsman if they wanted any freedom in their daily lives.

That's why when the kid asked about his strength that he lied about its source. 

And he now had an apprentice.

"That's quite a promise you made there Dusk." Said Nick as he walked up to him.

"He'll forget about it soon enough. You know how kids can be when it comes to these things. He'll probably give up after a month of training." He shouldn't have called him an apprentice though, he got a little too into it at the end.

It might be cruel that he brought up his hopes like that, but the kid asked him on a bad day.

Nick looked at him with disbelief, one that Dusk had never seen on his face and uttered three words.

"You don't know." Nick almost whispered.

"What-" Nick interrupted him with a question.

"Do you know what his name is?" He had never asked so he didn't know.

"I guessed he was the son to one of the employes or part of some program." The answer was not one that pleased Nick if one went by his shocked expression.

"Did you even read the memo that was put out the first time he worked here?"

"No, it didn't say it was important and I didn' have time because of exams that week. I forgot about it until you reminded me about it." He sighed. "Can you just tell me what his name is? You're making it sound like he's the son of a councilman."

His name is Jaune Arc and since your training to be a huntsman then I wouldn't say your too far off." Dusk hoped that what he just said was a joke.

"Jaune Arc, as in some distant cousin of the Arc family or some who by coincidence has the same last name?" His hopes were destroyed when Nick shook his head.

"Jaune Arc, as in the son of the current patriarch of the Arc family and he's the nephew to our boss too." Nick looked at him with pity. "And you just made a promise that you can't keep to a family that considers a promise sacred."

The Arc's wouldn't hurt him physically, but the stories he heard from his mother of what happened to those that broke a promise would make him wish they did. Nick easily summarized all that needed to be said about the situation.

"Good luck." 

If he had only read that stupid memo!


	15. Chapter 15

It was a quiet trip down one of Vale's highways. 

It wasn't long until they would get to his destination and Jaune was a little nervous. This would be his first big operation, he had his plan ready thanks to Neo and the rest of his group that had collected what information they could.

The amount of information that they had gathered was enough to describe how Desmond's organization worked.

Most of his income comes from smuggling, it could be anything from weapons to Dust or other stuff that his clients would need to be delivered from one place to another. Many of them are individuals or small gangs, but Desmond has one client that earns him the most lien.

A Vacuoan biker gang called the Dust Devils needs a lot of spare parts for their stuff. A lot of them are either too hard to get in Vacuo or too complicated and expensive to make for themselves. Desmond imports the parts from Mistral or Atlas and then ships them to Vacuo for a hefty price. 

A price that the gang has to pay since Desmond had crushed or made a deal with any other group that has shown an interest in a deal with the biker gang. The Dust Devils had given him a lot of money over the years for this and it has earned Desmond a lot of money.

His group was composed of dozens of people that worked as drivers, packers and more. Desmond organization was in a way similar to his uncle's business with the roles they played as transporters of goods.

The fighters that Desmond bragged about the last time they met was unfortunately not a lie. He does have dozens of fighters, most of them armed and even a few of them has military experience. It was a good thing that he had no plans to do that, they would be the ones crushed in an actual fight.

That's about all the information that Jaune has on them.

He had a plan already, one that he would discuss with the rest of the group, and he couldn't help to feel some excitement. If all went to plan then they with up with a lot of resources and connections.

Jaune couldn't help the chuckle that came out, he hadn't had this much fun for weeks. 

His chuckle was also the closest someone had spoken in a long time. Jaune wasn't sure why, but Dusky and Nick had been strangely quiet the entire time.

"What's so funny?" Asked Nick.

Until now, was he that loud?

"What do you mean?"

"The laugh you did." Nick glanced at him before he pointed his eyes back to the road. "I'm wondering what was so funny." 

"Nothing special, I was thinking about what I had planned for tonight." He didn't chuckle this time, but he did smile a little broader than normally. "I can barely wait."

Nick tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he continued the conversation.

"Ah yes, the special activity that the boss asked if we could drive you to. Are you sure you want me to stop at Rivet street, no specific address you want to tell?"

"No, it isn't too far from there so I can just walk from there." Nick hummed at his answer before he fully focused on the road.

The place was technically two streets down, but he wanted the place to stay as secret as possible. 

  
The place was the new house that Alec bought in the game, it probably belonged to someone else in the group in real life. The second apartment was one that they had moved all their stuff to because of the threat from Desmond. They were pretty sure Desmond didn't know where this place was and had lookouts to make sure it stayed that way.

He felt that some of his actions were a little too much for just a game, but Saphron had told him to take it as seriously as possible.

Jaune was disappointed that no one had shown up at the old apartment though. Did Desmond underestimate him that much?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of ripped paper which brought attention to the person on his right. Dusky Lark had been quiet for even longer, ever since he came back after the task that Dusky gave him and he had barely said a word since then. Jaune had started to feel a little worried at this point.

"Dusky?" He didn't react as he started to write on a new page in the notebook that he had scribbled in since he sat down. "Dusky, are you ok?" Jaune poked him in the arm.

Jaune got a reaction this time and he finally looked at him. He had a guilty look as he mumbled a few words before he went back to the notebook. Jaune didn't understand any of what he said and decided that Nick might be the better option for answers. 

"Is there something wrong with Dusky?"

Jaune waited for an answer, but the only sound that could be heard from Nick was his fingers as they continued the rhythmic tapping. Jaune waited for ten seconds, then thirty and it wasn't until a minute had passed that he received a hesitant answer.

"It because he is... nervous." 

"Nervous? He looked calm and confident back at the warehouse." It felt like nothing could surprise Dusky in life. Jaune felt like he was the type of person to stand confident against any challenge.

"Yeah, that's Dusk for you. He's probably the most confident guy I know, but you're his first apprentice. He's working hard at the perfect workout for you and he really doesn't want to disappoint." Why did he put such an emphasis on 'really'?

Jaune felt a little guilty at that, to think that Dusky cared that much about him already. He needs to show how much he appreciates his efforts.

He poked his shoulder once again to get his attention. Dusky looked at him once again and he made certain that he had his attention this time before he made sure they had direct eye contact. He needed to make sure that Dusky truly felt how grateful Jaune was for his help.

"Dusky, I just want to thank you for what you're doing for me. I've never been the strongest in anything, but you can't believe how grateful I am that you believe in me. I-" Jaune had started to trail off at the end as the words he had meant as encouragement had given the opposite effect.

Dusky looked even guiltier than before and Jaune was unsure of what to do now.

"We're here." Jaune felt his seatbelt loosen and was lifted up. It was only when he was on the ground that Jaune realized that Nick had taken him out in seconds. His bag was in Nick's hand. "Here you go."

  
He took the bag and Nick smiled as he started to wave. 

"Wait a second. Did I do something wrong, did I upset him somehow?" He hadn't thought that his words of thanks would upset him that much, they were supposed to help.

"Of course not, he just didn't know how to react to your kind words." Gentle sobs came from behind Nick. "He's crying tears of happiness now. See you later." The door was locked and they drove away.

Jaune could only stand on the street, confused at what just happened. 

A sound from an alarm on his scroll brought him out of his stupor, it was meant to ring ten minutes before he was supposed to be there. Jaune shook his head to clear his thoughts before he heaved the bag on to his back.

He could figure out what just happened the next time they meet, he had to hurry to the house while he still has time. 


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I saw how long it's been since the last chapter and rushed one out. A little shorter than normal.  
> Lightly edited previous chapters to remove writing mistakes.

Jaune managed to get there on time, barely. 

He was let in by Tom and got some more information that Julia had managed to get since last time. He read it as he changed his clothes in the bathroom. It wasn't as informative as the info he got from Neo, but it would be useful. 

Once he was properly dressed and made sure that he didn't smell too sweaty from the trip there, he went to the planning room. They all sat in various position around the table, all of them had been busy with their own things but shifted their attention towards him when he walked in.

Jaune took a deep breath as the moment had finally come, he had come up with a plan and it was time to tell them about it.

Hopefully, he hasn't made any mistakes.

* * *

Jim Birch had never thought much of himself, he had always thought that he was as average as one could get.

The fact that the main reason he flunked out of acting school was that he was too average didn't help much. All the good roles went to people that had something that made them unique, he was only picked for background roles. Mistral Academy of the Arts had a reputation to uphold which meant they couldn't have a student that only got roles that more often than not didn't have to speak.

He found himself with the Burgunder Burglars after that and as he met the rest of the gang it only reinforced the fact.

He would always be in the background when they did a job. Always the assistant, never the leader. Never relied upon and it felt like he was hired because they needed an extra hand. His skills were useless in this kind of work was what he had started to think and that was what he thought for a long time. 

Until now at least.

"Could you repeat that again boss?" 

"The first stage in any plan is the most important and that's where your skills will be needed."

Honestly, Jim had heard Jaune properly the first time he said it. It was the fact that he, apparently, needed his skills and not only an extra pair of hands. 

"Oh... What will I be doing then?" How did he even know that he was once an actor? 

Jim had only told the former boss once and he was pretty sure that they had never met.

"Well, to put it bluntly, we are going to be destroyed in a straight-up fight. They have more manpower, resources and thanks to Julia we now that he wasn't bluffing when he said how many fighters he had. At least two of them has their aura unlocked. This is not a fight we can win."

This didn't sound like a rousing speech and it felt like we had already lost the battle before it even started. Doesn't he now that one was supposed to cheer people up when an enemy was that strong. This was the complete opposite of the speech he made last time.

He would have said something, it looked like Alec was too shocked to say anything, but was stopped by the massive grin that Jaune wore

"Normally that is." His grin got smaller, but it was still visible as he continued. "Right now we have one advantage and its the fact that he is underestimating us. He's most likely thinking that we were bluffing about taking him down and are using the time to flee the city. We are not going to do that."

He laid out a map of the city, one that had several locations marked.

"The plan consists of several steps and each of you has a part to play." He locked eyes with him. "In the first stage, we will need you to go to several bars and spread rumours about Desmond's operation. How he might be running out of money or merchandise, that he's on his last legs. It won't scare any of his bigger clients as they have the resources to confirm the rumours, but it will scare the smaller ones. The rumours will help the next part of the plan where Tom and Rosa will play a part."

  
They perked up at the mention of their names

"Your job is to steal or destroy his merchandise. It will fuel the rumours and it will also make his bigger clients doubt in his abilities as their supplier. The next part of the plan will require Julia and Alec."

Julia and Alec stood at attention.

"You have sort of the same job as the other team, only that you're going after his money. You take it or destroy it, whatever is the easiest and safest."

Victor wasn't called up, but he stood up since was the last person left without a part to play.

"Victor and I will work on his clients. We are going to negotiate with a few of them and become their new middleman. Stealing isn't exactly the best source of stable income and we are going to need a lot of lien for future expansions."

That was the plan and they ironed out a few more details before Jim was sent out to do his part. A bar was decided as the best place to start the rumours and Rosa was currently driving him to his first one with all kinds of disguises to make sure he wouldn't be recognised.

His mind was busy as he tried to remember the skills and lessons that had gone unused for years. Hopefully, he wouldn't mess this up.

It was only a few minutes later that he walked into a bar, known as the Drunken Crow, that he felt that familiar sensation of anxiety that he always got before a performance. He took it as a good sign and started to play his first role in years.


End file.
